In today's rapidly paced society, professional and personal demands on messaging technologies, such as voice mail, e-mail, facsimile and pagers, have greatly increased. The development of this technology, in turn, has increased demands on mobile people who rely on these messaging devices for a variety of business and social communications. Specifically, these expectations have forced the mobile professional to demand the ability to receive messages regardless of time, location, or availability of messaging devices. According to a recent study by Pitney Bowes Inc. of Stamford, Conn., a typical business professional receives 169 messages a day. Many of these messages are delivered using some form of electronic and mobile communication such as cellular telephones, facsimiles, analog/digital telephone, pagers, e-mail transmission, and personal data assistants. These messages help determine the mobile professional's daily plans, keep him/her in contact with his/her community and enable him/her to accomplish his/her professional and personal goals.
Users, recognizing the capabilities of these devices, have relied on these devices such that they have become nearly indispensable tools for many businesses and individual consumers. Specifically recognized as invaluable are the inherent capabilities of a facsimile as an effective means of quickly and efficiently transmitting many types of documents from one known and specified location to another known and specified location. Facsimile machines are indispensable global tools, because they are used throughout the world and are accessible by and compatible with any other facsimile in the world. In addition, the use of facsimile machines has significantly improved the speed of transmittal of documents as compared to the sending of such a document through the postal services and/or various other express courier services, which, in general, require overnight delivery. Furthermore, facsimile machines have eased the travel burden on mobile professionals by eliminating the total number of printed documents they must carry to offsite meetings. With the aid of facsimile machines, any forgotten necessary documents may be retrieved by a simple facsimile (provided there is someone that has access to and can send the necessary documents).
Facsimile machines also provide printing capabilities for users. For example, it is not always convenient or desirable to review documents received electronically on devices with small display screens, such as, for example, a pager or personal data assistant (PDA). In those instances, the user may wish to print a hard copy of the document for ease in review and editing. The user can have these documents sent to a facsimile machine for printing, thereby enabling the user to easily read and edit the document.
There are problems, however, with conventional document messaging systems, such as, for example, facsimile machines. For example, often the reception of a secure document or message via a facsimile machine is a coordinated affair. Specifically, the mobile user must find a free facsimile machine and then communicate the telephone number of the facsimile machine to a person waiting to send the fax. If the message is a confidential communication, the sender also must know that the recipient will be present at the precise time the sender transmits the facsimile. Otherwise, if the receiving facsimile machine is in a public location, there is a risk that the message will be printed and left in an accessible location before the intended recipient gets there. Thus, if the intended recipient is not physically present at the facsimile machine, the intended recipient may never receive the message, and/or any confidentiality may be broken. Additionally, if there is not other person waiting to send the fax, a mobile user will not be able to retrieve any documents via facsimile.
Furthermore, transmissions via a standard telephone line to which facsimile machines are typically connected are not secure. Thus, any documents sent via a standard telephone line to a facsimile machine are capable of being intercepted, thereby compromising the security of such documents.
Thus, there exists a need for a messaging system that can provide secure, on-demand delivery of documents, ensuring receipt by the intended recipient and ensuring confidentiality of the contents of the document or message, and retrieving the document to a printed medium utilizing a facsimile machine.